I made this salad for a lovely light lunch when working from home one day. With little preparation required, it’s perfect for a simple meal when you don’t have much time to be preparing food. The combination of halloumi, bacon, squash, red onion and lentils is fantastic as it is, but elevated even further by adding dukkah pomegranate seeds. For a vegetarian option, you can just omit the bacon. As far as salads go, you really don’t have to do much convincing when you mention halloumi and/or bacon…
Lentil, squash and za’atar halloumi salad
Serves 2 | Prepare 5 minutes | Cook 30 minutes | Gluten-free , Vegetarian| Easy
You’ll need
- 250g frozen butternut squash, defrosted and cut into bite-sized chunks;
- 1 red onion, cut into wedges;
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil;
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar;
- 250g pack ready-to-eat puy lentils;
- 2 handfuls spinach;
- 1/2 pomegranate seeds;
- 1 tsp cumin seeds;
- 125g halloumi cut in 6 slices;
- 4 slices smoked bacon (optional).
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7. Toss the squash and onion in a large roasting tray with 1 tbsp olive oil, season. Roast for 25 minutes, tossing halfway through. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, whisk the remaining oil with the vinegar and season. Tip in the lentils, warm veg, spinach and most of the pomegranate. Mix gently.
Heat frying pan over a medium heat. Scatter the cumin and Za’atar over the halloumi and fry for 2 minutes on each side. If you are using bacon, you can fry it too at this point. Divide the salad between two plates, top with the halloumi and sprinkle with the remaining pomegranate.
Original recipe from myWaitrose magazine, issue April 2013, not available online.
Food Notes 